Becoming The Billionaire's Desire

The Therapist!!!

Narrator’s POV

Life is fickle!!! And Karma never forgets…

Like every other sunny day, Emily was living her best life. Her first movie set had just finished and she was in a relationship with the handsome lead actor who she met on set, Jack. She was in love, she was happy and of course confident that soon, her face will be plastered on every billboard within a 10-mile radius all over America – she was going to be the breakout actress of the year. Like every young woman in her early twenties, Emily was suddenly content. All the years, the years lived as somebody else had suddenly vanished into thin air, her secrets were as safe as angels in heaven, so, why exactly should she worry?

What Emily didn’t know is, to every deed done on earth, whether it be good or evil; a day of reckoning must come and that day was today.

After being jet-lagged from her California flight back to New York, Emily’s unusual way of dealing with Jet-lags was to walk and unwind. She decided to go visit Amy her best friend who recently lost a baby – perhaps if she had rested at home today…

But I watched as she entered her convertible and drove away into the mid-morning…

Oblivious of Karma…

***

Emily’s POV

It was already mid-morning by the time I arrived at The Carter’s villa. As usual the magnificence and opulence of the house wow me and I made a vow to myself to erect such a beautiful edifice when the money starts rolling in big. I parked my car in my personal space at the open garage beside the house since Sebastian has OCD.

I walked briskly to the entrance of the house and was engulfed in a hug by Nana.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I murmured against her chest as the smell of lavender and nutmeg wafted up to my nose.

“And I’ve missed you too, my dear,” she chuckled “How is the movie coming along?” she asked in one breath.

“Finished,” my eyes glistened in amusement “get ready to see me on your screen very soon,”.

“That’s amazing dear,” she smiled gently but I noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Nana, what’s wrong?” I placed my hand on her shoulders, guiding her to the couch at the reception.

“I’ve failed,” she scoffed gently “They are growing apart. Amy has refused to wear something else apart from the black clothes and Sebastian is trying so hard to be a husband but seems his tactics aren’t working. For some reason, Amy is frustrating him and I know he’s hurting. He loved that child so much and he’s hurting badly too. They’re supposed to be each other’s strength at these times and not these,” she sighed.

“I’ll see what I can do about Amy but I think it’s high time they see a therapist. It’s been a month now,” I suggested thoughtfully.

“Yeah, Sebastian already did that. One will be coming in today and let’s see what magic she would be able to work on Amy and Sebastian,”.

“Okay,” I nodded “Where is she?” I asked and straightened up.

“Up in her room, as usual. Staring at the window. The other day, I saw her weeping in front of the nursery, she does that a lot. She goes to the front of the nursery sit there and cry. She won’t even eat like a normal person; she won’t talk either and Sebastian recently started coming home late. The other day, I smelt alcohol on his breath but he swore he only had one glass, they’re drifting apart, too much,”.

“Don’t worry, Nana,” I soothed the anxious woman “Just give me a plate of whatever it is that is at home, let me go and work my magic,” I winked at her.

“Please my darling, do,” she hurried away to the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a plate laden with soup and freshly baked bread.

“This will help her a lot especially since she complained of her breast still milking,” she passed the plate to me.

“Alright, Nan, don’t worry too much,” I turned and made my way to Amy careful not to spill a single drop of the soup. At the bedroom door, I knocked twice but since I got no response, I ushered myself in.

First, it was the chaos that greeted me.

Amy was such a neat freak, one of the reasons why I feel she and Sebastian are the perfect match for each other but her bedroom looked like a tornado just went through. Clothes were strewn everywhere, torn papers with scissors were lying around. My leg scraped on something and I had to drop the food on the bed while I bent to examine what it was. It was a picture of Amy when she was pregnant. I remembered the day I took this picture, we were going on a stroll and Amy was always with her camera, so when she stopped to look at a cactus bush, the image looked so lovely with the sun just setting behind her, on cue, I took a picture but now it was lying in jagged piece together with every other picture she had taken while she was pregnant. Picking my way through the mess, I picked up the food and walked towards Amy who I spotted at the Balcony.

Second, I was taken aback by my friend’s dishevelled look.

I stared at her in disbelieve while she rocked slowly in the rocking chair. Her hair looked uncombed and unbrushed. Her usual dark, glossy hair had been replaced with a hair that lacked lustre. Her skin was pale and dry, she had circles around her eyes from lack of sleep and beside her was a cup of strong, black coffee – Amy never takes her coffee black. Her nails were broken and adorned instead by black nail polish that was done in a hurry.  Just as Nana had said, she was donned in a black flowing gown that reminded me of maleficent. This was not my Amy.

“Hey,” I called out gently as I placed the food tray on a smaller table I found there. No response.

“Amy?” I settled myself beside her and shook her shoulders gently. Slowly, I watched as she turned and stared at me. She looked at me for the longest time before slowly, recognition entered her eyes.

“Ems!” she asked in disbelieve “Emily,” she repeated again as she stood up to clasp me in a hug “Oh Ems, I’ve missed you so much, too much,” she sobbed “You’ve come to take me away right?” she pulled back and looked at me with eyes filled with hope and trust.

“Amy, my darling,” I tried to stop myself from crying, “I’ve missed you too much,” I reached for her face “Sorry, I couldn’t come earlier, but I am here now,” I said gently.

“I lost my baby, Ems,” Amy said gently and went back to the rocking chair and began to rock a bit faster.

“I lost her, Emily,” she continued “One moment she is in my stomach and then the next, she is no longer there. They said she died before they had her removed from my stomach. They won’t even let me touch my baby, Ems. I cried, I screamed and told them I wanted to touch my baby but they won’t let me. Rather, I heard Sebastian tell them to put me to sleep. He hates me,” as she talked, tears flowed from her eyes, she looked so vulnerable and at the same time miserable. I felt like gathering her in my arms and taking her with me.

What's more, I discovered that when she was talking about her baby, she talked as if the child was still alive. Replacing past tenses with present tense.

“That is why I need you to take me away. Take me to somewhere else where I don’t have to see, Sebastian every day. He’s the reason why I lost my baby, we were having an argument about where I was supposed to give birth to the child and he wanted me to give birth at Greenough. He said it is a family tradition, and when I insisted that I wanted to go to somewhere different, somewhere that I can relate to, he got angry and told me that I am so difficult and then he left the house. I cried, Ems when he left and I felt so sad and depressed and I wanted to just leave, that was when I slipped from the stairs and fell to the last stair. I started bleeding but I was so scared to call anyone and no one was at home;” she paused and swallowed “The doctor said if I had arrived five minutes later, that I would have saved my baby,”.

She burst into tears again and halfway started laughing hysterically “I killed my baby,” she screamed in hysterics “I killed her now I’ll never be a mom,” she screamed on.

“Amy,” I finally found my voice as I rushed and grabbed her “No darling,” I hugged her, soothing her gently “You didn’t kill your baby, you didn’t kill your baby,” I repeated in emphasis. The past – my past that I have carefully hidden for a long time reared its head and I couldn’t control my emotions any more. You are a loving mother, you didn’t purposely kill your baby, bad things just happen; I didn’t kill my dad too,” I whispered the last line to myself.

“I just want to die, Ems,” she pulled back and said with all seriousness “I want to die so I can get peace, this pain, this thing I feel in my chest won’t go away and I know that no matter how far I go, that Sebastian will come for me. I don’t want him anymore. I only want my baby back,”.

I stared starstrucked at my beautiful friend who was a shadow of the Amy Cheong we all know on the runway. Every confidence had been replaced with certain desperation and empty eyes devoid of emotions. I worried that Amy has slowly evolved into something way beyond our grasp. She was slowly fading away, I need to talk to Sebastian.

“Hey,” I reached for her hand “I will take you with me on one condition,” I told her.

She pursued her lips as she gazed at me with confusion all over her face “What condition?” she asked.

“I need you to bath and change into something new maybe something as beautiful as your smile and then I’ll clean up the room and then take you with me, agreed?” I smiled winningly.

At first, she gazed steadily at me, trying to process all the information I had given her, then suddenly she screamed “No,” her eyes were filled with hatred “No, no, no,” she repeated “You don’t want me to mourn my baby, you don’t want me to mourn her. You all want me to forget her, dress up real nice and smell good while she’s left in the cold and darkness all by herself. You all are evil people; I am never going to remove these clothes and stay away from the cold. My baby is there and no one can stop me from being with her,”.

“No, no,” I tried to calm her down “Not so honey, you need to care more for yourself. I love you, Sebastian loves you, your mom, your father, your brother, even Nana loves you,”.

“Fake love,” she shouted “All of you are trying to change me and make me into the person you want but it won’t work. Not now, not forever,” she sobbed “My baby is all I have now and no one will take that away from me. Just go away,” she stood and motioned towards the door.

“Amy, I…”.

“I said go away,” she screamed at the top of her lungs with her eyes brimming with malice “don’t ever come back,”.

I tried to reach for her but was grabbed violently with a strength I didn't know she possessed and pushed out of the bedroom with the door slammed at my face.

Amy needed our help…and fast.